IDPs IN BAKU: A QUALITATIVE APPROACH

Asen Balikci

Université de Montréal

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Page 3

INTRODUCTION Page 4

1. THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, FINISHED AND UNFINISHED Page 6

2. A RESTRICTED SAMPLE FOR A QUALITATIVE SURVEY Page 9

3. FAMILY COMPOSITION Page 11

4. REMUNERATED WORK CONDITIONS Page 14

4. 1. Various present occupations Page 14

4. 2. Unskilled laborers Page 16

4. 3. Traders and street peddlers Page 17

5. MICRO-CREDIT Page 22

6. INCOME AND DEBT Page 25

7. HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE Page 27

8. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION Page 30

9. SCHOOL CHILDREN Page 32

CONCLUSION: IDP IDEOLOGY Page 33

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is a qualitative survey of living standards and adaptive strategies of internally

displaced persons in Baku. The survey was carried by a Canadian anthropologist between

April 16 and May 16 with the help of the Social Fund for the Development of IDPs. The

survey implied in-depth interviews with a relatively small number of informants with the aim

to establish the socio-cultural context of IDP survival in an urban environment. Testimonies

by informants were consistently given a privileged place.

In the capital, IDPs occupy mainly non-residential buildings in decaying conditions.

According to the restricted sample of 40 families all able bodied men are working full time or

part time or are actively searching for remunerated work. Construction and street peddling

are the main employment activities. In the context of small trading, micro-credit is very

important. Various government allowances and pensions help balance the family budget. It

seems IDPs have adapted to conditions of extremely limited resources by drastically reducing

expenses and developing some specific responses to absolute poverty. This relative

equilibrium can be broken anytime by some health hazard leading to increased indebtedness

and despair.

According to our sample, all children attend school and the importance of education is

recognized by parents. The school environment is free of drugs.

IDPs have an ideology of war victims. In Baku, they form a ghetto society to a

considerable extent physically and socially segregated from the majority population. They

consider their presence in Baku as temporary and sincerely hope to return some day to their

presently occupied native lands.

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INTRODUCTION

According to the State Refugee Committee (SRC) responsible for registration of

Internally Displaced Persons, 153 392 IDPs were registered as temporary residents of Baku at

the end of 2003. This number does not take into account the numerous IDPs registered in the

provincial districts and working “illegally” in Baku. The construction boom in Baku has

attracted during the last few years a large number of IDPs and resident workers from many

parts of Azerbaijan. Our data indicate that many young men from the newly constructed rural

settlements for IDPs leave their “Hollywood” style houses and move to Baku in search of

work mainly on the construction sites. An investigation of this new trend is presently

undertaken by SRC. Accordingly the IDPs tend to divide the country in two unequal parts: the

countryside consisting of small towns and villages and Baku. It is assumed that it is extremely

difficult to find any kind of remunerated work in the countryside while with some

perseverance one can get a succession of temporary jobs or become self-employed in the

capital.

This is the backdrop for our strictly qualitative study of IDP living standards and

adaptive strategies conducted in Baku during April 16 to May 16, 2004. I was instructed to

survey the IDP population residing in various public, non-residential buildings in Baku such

as hostels, unfinished buildings, schools, etc. with the aim to describe their vulnerability and

despair. A qualitative approach was to supplement the two excellent quantitative surveys of

SIGMA 2001 and Attila Hancioglu 2002. These quantitative surveys using a very large

sample are representative of the IDP population as a whole. They control successfully

different variables and their conclusions are astonishingly precise. They fail however to relate

different socio-cultural factors and do not give voice to the voiceless: their respondents

answer specific questions and then remain silent.

The qualitative survey on the other hand is statistically not representative of the total

IDP population, it represents only the sample upon which it is based. It intends to construct a

global, integrated picture of local socio-cultural conditions with IDPs freely expressing their

opinion. In this context, instead of a detailed questionnaire, we used a guideline mainly

concerned with family composition, household ethnography, displacement history, the quality

of food and its availability, various work conditions including the impact of micro credit and

the all important issues of health and health care. Together with my interpreter Kamil

Mamedov, we visited 40 families in seven public buildings averaging two families per day.

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This is a very small sample. Any quantitative extrapolation from one limited sample to the

global IDP Baku population should be considered as inappropriate.

The families we worked with were selected on a random basis. We walked into a

building and started chatting with some of the elders. After a few minutes we were often

invited for tea. It was usually the elders who invited us. This was probably due to my status as

“aksakal”, meaning in Azeri Turkish, an elder with a white beard. A typical visit lasted two to

three hours. The amiable conversation around a pot of tea included the family elder and some

other adult family members, if any, together with some neighbors eager to see what was going

on. When parting somebody would comment: “Many important visitors come here, both

local people, officials and foreigners but they stay outside, in front of the main door, they

never enter our rooms or drink tea with us…” The seven buildings where we conducted our

observations were selected by Mr. Fikret Topcibasev, director of SFDI and Mr. Mubariz

Agaiev, SRC, Department of Migration and Employment, accompanied by Mr. Sabir

Ahmedoglu, SFDI.

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1. THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, FINISHED AND UNFINISHED

The seven selected buildings included probably the worst and the best of IDP occupied

buildings in Baku. Building No 1 is a massive unfinished structure belonging to the

Ambulance Station in Binagadi District. Basically, it is an eight storey frame constructed

with very large concrete blocs. Within this frame the IDP occupants over the years have built

brick or stone interior walls and created partitions and rooms. Seen from outside the building

appears like an absurd mosaic of different materials and colors, a Fellini-like creation of the

desperately poor. All around the building, leading to it and hanging on it are hundreds of

makeshift metal pipes, rubber tubes and electrical cables bringing water, gas and power from

somewhere in the vicinity to the individual rooms. They encircle the building like a spider’s

web. Larger rubber tubes take the refuse directly to the basement where it remains and stinks

continuously. The IDPs basically live on top of a cesspool. In summer, clouds of mosquitoes

and flies of various kinds fill the air. The people say: “We can’t fight the rats and the flies,

that is why we are all sick here, look at the children’s rashes…” Behind the building lie huge

piles of refuse which the wind scatters all around. The balconies have no banisters, last year a

child fell down but it landed on some rubber tubes and survived. Recently a drunken man was

less lucky, he fell down and was killed on the spot.

The building is surrounded by a ring of small makeshift houses. These one or two

room structures were built by some of the early occupants of the main building on the empty

yard around. Several small shops share this space. The building’s yard is encircled by a two

meters high stone wall. On the other side of the wall, some of Baku's most luxurious

mansions are now being built, real palaces for the nouveaux riches! Trouble appeared

recently when the police started evicting the poor makeshift house-owners in order to sell

their illegally occupied land to the surrounding palace proprietors.

In contrast to this unfinished structure, we visited two buildings in excellent condition

located in Sumgait and Darnagul. They were recently renovated by a Norwegian NGO. The

renovations concerned mainly the communal parts: sewage, electricity and water distribution

systems together with the corridors, toilets, bathrooms and collective kitchens. This appealing

environment created an ambiance of well-being. A stable community organization also

established by the Norwegians seems to have insured the excellent maintenance of the

building.

The rest of the buildings we visited offered the usual signs of neglect and decay in

varying proportions. The sewage installations were generally out of order. For example, a

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hostel designed for 200 students was now occupied by 200 families. This was beyond the

capacity of the sewage installations with the overflow spreading in the basement. The

occupants had discovered in the vicinity a main power cable, a gas and water pipe and they

had extended connections directly to their rooms. The communal parts, baths, toilets,

corridors were decaying and extremely dirty. Roofs were leaking. In an unfinished building,

an international NGO had put tar paper on a makeshift roof. It was now leaking and in the

rooms below were placed various recipients to collect the rainwater. Another INGO built

bathrooms outside in the yard; without maintenance these quickly decayed and now lay in

ruins. The list of decaying parts of buildings and broken down makeshift installations can

easily be lengthened. There is no refuse collection in several buildings around the city

periphery and the garbage is thrown in the yard near to the children’s playground. No wonder

the people constantly complain of being sick.

The basement of an unfinished building was probably the most hideous dwelling place

we visited. The rooms on both sides of a low ceiling corridor had no windows. One small

opening at the end of the corridor provided some air. With no day light and no fresh air,

people moved slowly and looked pale, haggard and tired. Apparently, this basement is

occasionally visited by foreign ambassadors on IDP sightseeing tours.

In sharp contrast to the decaying communal parts, the IDP rooms are generally clean,

well kept and relatively comfortable albeit in a context of visible poverty. The typical IDP

dwelling in a public building consists of a single room. Rooms do vary in size, the smallest

room we observed was around 12 m2 and the largest over 40 m2. Very high ceilings are a

common feature in public buildings. Large rooms are often divided in two by a cardboard

wall. In some rooms, a partition is built around the entrance door and a kitchen compartment

established there. Most of the cooking is done on an electric heater placed in the corridor

right beside the entrance door. While in practically all rooms there is a TV set, in only half of

them can a refrigerator be found. Beds are covered with huge piles of bedding material. A

carpet is always hung on the wall near the bed. Some precious china is exhibited in the

cupboard. A table with chairs around complete the furnishings. Many rooms have a

telephone.

A comfortable room must have a floor covered with planks. Great fear was expressed

about bare, concrete floors considered as cold, unhealthy, and a cause of various diseases

including rheumatism. In one unfinished building several families had moved out to a

different hostels which had wood covered floors. When entering a small house our attention

was immediately directed to the wooden floor. It seems that dangerous diseases move up

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from below, from underground, and only wooden planks can stop them. A mother of two

living on the ground floor commented: “We need a wooden floor because of the humidity.

The children are sick, the place is full with rats, and insects continuously crawl in from the

window… ”

Clearly, conditions vary greatly from one public building to the other and from one

room to the other, there is no uniform standard for IDP dwellings. With time, these rooms

have slowly acquired value. At the beginning, when the unfinished buildings were empty, the

site guards did not allow the IDPs to enter the premises. Later, some local policemen

apparently encouraged the IDPs to occupy the buildings. It seems that in the chaos of war,

migration and state disorganization, the authorities did not have a general plan for the

settlement of IDPs in specific buildings. The IDPs seem to have discovered the buildings by

themselves soon after their arrival in Baku, either alone or with the help of friends and

relatives. If the building was unfinished various construction materials were lying around.

The IDPs used them in the construction of their rooms. Quickly many family hostels, student

dormitories and various unfinished buildings were occupied by the IDPs. Presently there is a

demand for such rooms by newly arrived IDPs and residents who hope to benefit from the

construction boom in the capital. The average price for a good size room is over USD 500. In

the renovated Sumgait family hostel a comfortable room was recently ceded for USD 1000.

These transactions are not legally registered, they represent private contracts described on a

piece of paper with two signatures below.

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2. A RESTRICTED SAMPLE FOR A QUALITATIVE SURVEY

In our sample of 40 families, 37 came from a rural or semi-rural background. Three

occupations predominate: kolkhoz agriculture laborers, tractor or truck drivers and

construction workers, mainly carpenters and masons. Further, in our sample, there are a

teacher, a nurse, a zoo technician, a railway engineer, a librarian, a medical technician, a

nurse, a bookkeeper, a store manager, etc. Practically all our informants have eight or eleven

years of schooling with some having completed professional training in the local Technicum.

Among the town’s people there is a foreman, a dispatcher and an “engineer”. Practically all

our informants kept some cattle and sheep, thus the town’s people also had a rural life style.

The majority of our informants were obliged under enemy fire to suddenly leave their

homes, some didn’t even have the possibility to get their personal documents and identity

papers. Shells exploding all around created panic and seem to have been the principal factor

for the traumatic shock. Even today our informants’ hands still tremble when reminiscing this

initial horror. A village store manager comments: “The Armenians appeared suddenly with

tanks and started shooting with Kalashnikovs, shells exploded on top of our house, the cows

started to make a noise, the dogs were barking and people screaming, nobody recognized his

own relatives around and nobody knew what to do and where to run, it happened on August

23, 1993 in Yukhari Haji Isakli village… for the next eight months I was not normal, my head

was turning, I had lost appetite and couldn’t sleep…” Yet in this context three families in our

sample had managed to take their cattle with them and sell it at very low price a few weeks

later. In several cases women and children were loaded on trucks and moved away while the

able-bodied men returned to the villages as volunteer fighters.

The move from the war zone to Baku can take a few days or a few years. About ten

families in our sample came directly to Baku, they all had relatives here or very close friends

in Baku who provided them with shelter in usually extremely crowded conditions. One

informant stayed in a relative’s small house with 30 other people. The majority however

followed very tortuous routes, stopping for years in villages and camps. One family left its

native village in Fizuli in 1993 and stopped 18 times on its way to Baku, for the first year in

several different villages in liberated Fizuli, then in Imishli for the second year, then in a

village garage followed by the public bath in Beylagan from where the family traveled to

Baku in 1998.

Throughout these peregrinations the family, usually comprising three generations,

behaved as an autonomous social unit. It seems that from the moment when the native village

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was abandoned until the arrival in Baku, the family head took the decisions about where to

move and where to settle. In our sample with the possible exception of one case there is no

instance of two or three closely related nuclear families moving together as a group. Each

family acted independently and followed a different route selected on the basis of rapidly

changing circumstances. And for the ten families with relatives in Baku, the help they

received was short lived. The Baku relatives helped somehow the newly arrived in their

search for a room, preferably in a hostel, and there the help ended. The autonomy of the

family acting as an independent socio-economic unit was a constant factor throughout the

internal displacement process.

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3. FAMILY COMPOSITION

In our family composition survey we have taken into consideration only family

members living in the room under observation. Married siblings and various collaterals

residing elsewhere have generally been excluded from our sample. With this limitation in

mind, we can notice that 20 families consist of two generations and 18 families of three

generations. Married female descendants do not reside in their parents’ room. They live at

their husbands' place. Residence is rigorously patrilocal. No elders reside alone. Elders

usually reside with one of their married sons. Even in this case, it is the elder man who is

legally and practically the head of the family. Unmarried daughters always reside in their

father’s room. After the death of their mother, it is the unmarried daughters who look after

their elderly father. Assuming that an elderly couple has three married sons, only one will

remain in the family room, the other two will have to move out to some other

accommodation. This move is determined mainly by the exiguity of the original family room,

simply there is not enough space in a 18 m2 room for several nuclear families to cohabit.

However, finding rooms for married sons and daughters is an extremely difficult task.

The presence of numerous two generations families is partially explained by the high

mortality rate of the elderly living in IDP conditions. This trend was repeatedly mentioned by

several informants: “In our (native) village our old man was a kolkhoznik, and he was doing

very well. Here in this small room with poor food and little light he couldn’t bear the misery

of this new life, although he was not working he got sick and died quickly … look at my

mother, she was healthy and alert in our village, here she collapsed, she grew old and decrepit

very fast, she can barely walk now, she feels bad because she is constantly thinking about our

miserable situation… those over fifty when they came here have died very fast. In practically

all the families here after we arrived in Baku, one old person died… from our village there are

28 families here, all their elders died here…”

In our sample, family rooms are generally small, about half are under 20 m2. In one 12

m2 room seven people were sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Crowding is common and

people have absolutely no privacy. These conditions have determined two important trends.

The first concerns the extreme difficulties experienced by the young who wish to marry.

Simply they have no space, no room, no accommodation where to establish an independent

family household as the custom requires. Immediately after I entered a family room and

explained our aims, my attention was directed to some young man or/and woman of

marriageable age: “He is working and saving money for his marriage, he has a fiancée and

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they would like to marry but where would they go? You can see how small our room is, they

cannot stay here and they have no money to find another room, so they sit and wait for

something to happen…” Our sample corroborates this tendency: in our data there are 21

young men and 19 young women of marriageable age and who cannot marry. Further, many

of these are over 30 and have already been waiting for a long time… It should be noted that

the vast majority of marriages that have taken place in displacement are contracted among

IDPs, in only half a dozen cases is an IDP girl married to a resident who is inevitably very

poor. It seems that civil status and social class are factors seriously constraining marital

choice. Further, our census includes several cases of “Arab” marriage: a young man marrying

his first cousin or father’s brother’s daughter who of course would be an IDP.

The second trend concerns the reduction of family size in the displacement context. In

many cases we enumerated collaterals residing outside the family room. In one case nine

married siblings resided in different places in Baku, in another eight, in still another six and

three additional groups of five married siblings are included in our genealogies. With a single

exception these 38 members of very large families had only two children each! This reduction

in the number of children born after displacement rests on a conscious choice. As an elder

informant explained: “We had a good life in our native village. I had cattle and sheep, a good

house and a good job, free education for my children and free medical care. We like children

and we had large families, we didn’t care, we thought that the good time will last forever.

Then came Gorbachov who destroyed the country and the Armenians completed the

destruction … now in this miserable situation the young understand about modern life with its

difficulties, they talk about children among themselves and decide to have only one or two…”

Strangely enough, according to our data, close relatives like married siblings do not

live in the same building, they are usually located in different hostels or unfinished buildings

in different part of the city. Again, the family behaves as an anonymous residential unit. There

are exceptions however. One man had an exceptionally large room in a hostel while his sister

with her family was living in a dark basement. He divided his room in two with a makeshift

partition in order to accommodate his sister’s family. And there is the unique case of an

extended family occupying a basement in a semi-finished building. The family is from

Agdam town and consists of five brothers and one sister, all married with children. The eldest

brother was already established in Baku before the war. The second brother arrived soon after

the Armenian occupation of Agdam, followed by the other brothers and the sister. They all

stayed initially in the small house of the eldest brother, about 30 people. Together they

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searched for accommodation, discovered this empty basement and moved in together after

rebuilding the premises.

It seems that during the migration process, and certainly after, the IDPs have acquired

some capability of communicating among themselves and exchanging news and information

on a variety of matters. Thus when searching for accommodation in Baku, many IDPs knew

about room availability in public buildings. They first informed the people from their own

district and village who rushed to the premises. That is how were formed, in each building,

clusters of people from specific villages and districts and this despite the apparently

geographically mixed character of the inhabitants.

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4. REMUNERATED WORK CONDITIONS

According to our sample, all able-bodied men are engaged in some kind of

remunerated work or are actively searching for such. The notion of work held by IDPs can be

interpreted in different manners and is in need of clarification. Informants spontaneously

admit that work means a regular government job and immediately add that “nobody works

here” implying that IDPs generally have no work, they have no government jobs, they are

jobless. This is a belief widespread throughout the old USSR and is obviously a result of the

Soviet system when the government and communal enterprises were the main employers.

However, when informants are asked what kind of people live in their neighborhood and what

kind of work are the neighbors doing for a living, a different picture emerges. One informant

readily enumerated a series of occupations, professions and trades: welder, specialized

construction craftsmen, butcher, night watchman (regular salary), garbage collector (regular

salary), taxi driver, shop owner, teacher, doctor, nurse, street cleaner (regular salary), TV

repair person, etc. He excluded the numerous daily laborers and street peddlers who according

to the informant were not worth considering. Thus, working are those people who have some

specialist skills and knowledge or a regular salary. The others simply seem not to be

working… Our data from 40 families indicate three categories of workers (excluding

collaterals):

- 25 unskilled daily laborers

- 8 small traders and street peddlers

- 26 in various occupations.

Basically all able-bodied men work or are actively searching for work. Those who do not

work are the very old, the chronically sick, the invalids and some people who were in high

positions in their native country and who refuse to do menial work at the present time.

4. 1. Various present occupations

Our census indicates: three taxi drivers, three teachers, four gardeners, four specialized

construction craftsmen, one seamstress, one doctor assistant, one in a government job, one

electrician, one auto mechanic, one garbage collector, one canteen operator, one pharmacist,

four cleaners, total 26 persons in our sample. Clearly this short list is not representative of the

many different kinds of occupations practiced by Baku IDPs. Some comments seem pertinent

here.

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First there is no necessary relation between an IDP’s education and employment

record in the native land and his/her work performance in Baku. Many IDPs have graduated

from a Technicum (Soviet style professional school) and in Baku they work as street

peddlers…

Second, IDPs usually experience difficulties in using the kickback system prevalent in

job offerings. Regular, stable jobs are very difficult to get in Azerbaijan. A potential employer

will always favor a relative or close friend for the job or somebody who is expressly

recommended by a relative or a person in a very high position. If such is not the case and if an

unknown job seeker approaches a potential employer it is expected that a kickback should be

paid. For the kickback, the Russian word “shapka” (hat) is employed and its scale depends on

how big the job’s salary is, usually it is between USD 100 to USD 300. Now the IDPs

generally have no savings and thus they cannot approach a potential employer and use the

kickback system effectively.

Third, an IDP is by definition a stranger in Baku, he does not have a circle of

established relatives and close friends in high positions who could indicate to him some job

opening, this is the privilege of Baku residents. IDPs occupy a marginal position in Baku

society, obviously good steady jobs are not offered to them…

Fourth, with few exceptions, IDP women in Baku generally do not work! This was not

the case however in the native land where under the Soviet system women were regularly part

of the work force. In our sample, there are four women employed part time in a hospital as

cleaners, one seamstress and one woman cooking in a canteen. This situation can be explained

by several factors. It is said that it is not good for a woman to work in town, implying that the

town is not a safe place for women working alone. Further, the new social order seems to

allow women to resume their traditional role in the household. They stay at home. And there

is the great difficulty of finding a job, any job! We have no record of women knitting or

making carpets for sale. Apparently there is not market for such products. The Hayat

Foundation some years ago established a carpet-making project in one of the buildings, it

lasted only six months and was never revived. Several women asserted they were skilled

carpet weavers and expressed readiness for such work if somebody was to organize and

finance it.

In our sample appear several construction craftsmen described by the term “usta” or

masters. These are carpenters, masons, concrete frame specialists, etc. They constitute the

aristocracy of the building trades and are described as men with “golden hands”, a kind of

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innate skill. A master will have usually his own assistant helper, the two are hired together

generally for several months at a time at large construction sites.

Gardeners are usually hired elderly people including couples with substantial

experience in tending vegetable gardens in their native lands. In our sample, this is the only

context for the employment of the elderly.

Operating a cab may involve some extended financial transactions. One cab driver

bought a used car. First he had to pay USD 500 – front money to the car owner. He borrowed

this money from an IDP businessman (married to the daughter of a rich resident trader). For

this money he paid 10% monthly interest. He is now paying USD 100 a month to the car

owner with the understanding that after a year he will own the car! He manages to pay USD

100 a month but he has very little money left for living expenses.

Another informant brought to Baku his 1977 car from his native village. He has been

regularly operating this car as a cab in Baku making over USD 100 monthly profit, enough to

cover family expenses. He received USD 400 Norwegian micro credit and used it to repair the

engine. He is paying back regularly with the hope that he will receive a second loan of USD

1000 enabling him to bay a “new” car.

A pharmacist, a graduate of a medical Technicum is operating out of his small family

house he built by himself near an unfinished building. He obtained two micro credit loans

from the Norwegians, with the first USD 300 he built his house and with the second USD 500

he bought medical supplies for sale. He didn’t have enough money to buy expensive

medicines. There are very few customers coming to his pharmacy, he intends to apply for a

larger loan.

Our data about the earnings of this group are unreliable. Informants systematically

tried to minimize their earnings making themselves appear poorer than they are. Some

masters from the building trades earn up to 60 000 manats per day while their assistants

average 15-20 000 manats. Most salaries are in the range of 200 000 to 300 000 manats per

month. Some hospital cleaners mentioned very low salaries while restaurant cleaners

apparently earned much more. It should be noted that most of these occupations and jobs do

not involve official, written contracts, they rest mostly on verbal agreements. Mainly jobs

related to government institutions and major companies can be considered as “regular”

positions involving official contracts.

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4. 2. Unskilled laborers

This occupational category is of the greatest importance to the IDPs. In our sample of

40 families over 20 families include unskilled laborers performing generally two kinds of

tasks. The first is concerned with construction and maintenance: mixing cement, bringing

bricks to the mason, carrying supplies, digging ditches, cleaning yards, etc. The second is

loading and unloading goods or moving goods from one point to another “mostly” in city

markets, around truck and railway terminals and at the great wholesale depots near Baku

airport.

The laborers gather early in the morning at specific places in town where they wait the

whole day for employers in trucks and cars to come and pick them up. Some of the masters

are also to be found at these waiting places. Although most of the hiring takes place early in

the morning, most laborers remain at the waiting place until the evening when some hiring for

the following day or week may occur together with some night jobs in private houses. The

normal working day is from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a one hour lunch break.

The remuneration for a day’s work in Baku is about 20 000 manats. In some cases it

may be as low as 15 000 although in cases of heavy tasks such as moving bricks it may go up.

In Sumgait, the daily wage is 10 000 manats and many Sumgait laborers travel daily to Baku

for work. Laborers are careful about the bus fare which may amount up to 1 500 manats. As

previously mentioned, the master’s wage is at least double that of the unskilled laborers. Most

important, a laborer can practically never find continuous employment, most jobs are of short

duration and amount to an average of 15 days per month according to our data and bringing a

total income of 300 000 manats. It seems also that some laborers find employment without

necessarily going to the waiting places, they have friends living in the same building who are

well connected to potential employers and who call them on the phone when needed.

Unskilled laborers are mostly strong young men; however our sample includes some elderly

men who act as replacement for their sons. There is no labor market for women.

There are many men who dislike intensively going to the labor market and waiting

there: after repeated failures they become angry, depressed and talk about suicide. They try

not to go back to the market! This is particularly true of young men with high ambitions.

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4. 3. Traders and street peddlers

There are only eight traders and street peddlers in our sample. When we consider the

distribution of various occupations in whole buildings the picture changes. In one building in

Binagadi occupied by 80 families we counted 24 street peddlers and only 15 unskilled

laborers together with numerous part-time factory workers employed in a plant nearby.

Distribution of occupations can change substantially according to different buildings and

different city districts. However, it is practically certain that the total number of street

peddlers in Baku has been on the decrease after the municipality’s decision to restrict their

presence in February 2001.

It should be noted that the sudden appearance of street peddlers and small traders of

various kinds after the collapse of the USSR is a general phenomenon specific to practically

all the cities of the socialist bloc. The reason for this phenomenon can be found in the chronic

inefficiency of the socialist commodity distribution system. There was a crying need for a

widening of the distribution network and it is the peddlers who accomplished this task for the

benefit mostly of the lower classes. Second, street peddling and small trading can be initiated

and developed with practically no capital, it rests on a system of commercial debt and mutual

trust excluding any financial investment by the peddler, at least at the initial phase of

development. In a sense, any man no matter how poor can become a street peddler. Women

are occasionally engaged in street peddling.

Mainly two kinds of goods are sold directly on the sidewalks or in stalls: food items

and dry goods including clothing. In our data most street peddlers sell fruit and vegetables

together with potatoes and onions which are staple foods. While fruit and vegetables are

offered seasonally, apples are peddled the whole year round. Produce is brought to Baku from

the provincial districts by the wholesalers and then distributed to the peddlers. Meat is sold

on sidewalk stalls, apparently illegally established near the public buildings occupied by

IDPs. Dry goods are offered in various combinations, some peddlers offer only one or two

items, others offer a whole range of dry goods. One of our young informants was selling

perfume at a metro station, he used to buy his supplies from wholesalers near the airport and

always paid cash. Some others sell cigarettes, etc. Near the IDP buildings are located some

substantial dry good stalls, selling a great variety of dry goods including many items for

school children.

19

Small trading implies considerable stability in space and time. Small traders occupy

specific places on the sidewalks, bazaars or near metro stations for which they pay rent to an

individual or agency with certain proprietary rights over that spot. Day after day, year after

year, they stand on that particular place. Their intention is, in time, to become known to the

local public. A similar trend prevails among the peripatetic peddlers who follow a daily route

consisting of a series of buildings visited at specific time. That is usually the routine of

vegetable sellers. The specific spot where the peddler stands is called “tochka”, in Russian

meaning “point”.

The relations between wholesalers and small traders established on a tochka are

particularly important. There are two kinds of wholesalers, big ones and small ones. The big

ones generally have offices, they are major distributors supplying the small wholesalers who

have shops, their merchandize is in their shops from where they distribute to the street

peddlers and various small traders. The small wholesaler who operates out of his shop is in a

position of stability, he can not run away. He can be reached any time by the big wholesaler

and invited to answer questions. The two kinds of wholesalers have to trust each other. The

small one has to be assured of a regular supply of goods at a reasonable price and the big one

has to trust his smaller partner on the assumption he will not cheat him. The relationship

between the two has to express stability and trust.

A similar relationship of stability and trust prevails between the small wholesaler and

the peddlers. A small wholesaler can supply a large number of peddlers, let’s say a dozen.

With his truck or car he will visit them on a specific day, deliver the goods and declare that in

10 days he will be back. Two kinds of arrangements are possible here. First, ten days later, the

wholesaler gets the money for the merchandize the peddler has sold and he recuperates the

merchandize which was not sold. Second, 10 days later the wholesaler gets the money

equivalent to the value of the whole lot of goods, no matter what has been sold or not. In

order to avoid paying taxes no official invoices are used. Clearly the wholesaler has to trust

the peddler assuming he will not run away with the merchandize. The wholesaler knows the

personal history of the peddler, where he comes from, what kind of a person he is, the extent

of his family responsibilities, etc. The relationship of trust based upon stability develops

gradually over time.

A similar relationship develops between small traders and customers, in our case IDPs

in public buildings. We mentioned that all around these public buildings series of small

traders in stalls are to be found. The IDPs buy most of their food and dry good items in these

stalls using a credit system. They don’t pay cash but contract a debt for “bakalya” or groceries

20

written down in the trader’s notebook. The IDPs pay back at the end of the month when

pensions are paid.

It is clear that the four levels of commercial transactions, linking big and small

wholesalers, small traders and customers rest on relationships of trust and stability implicit in

the debt system. Money and goods could not circulate up and down these four levels without

the bond of trust.

Let’s examine now the concrete case of a successful small trader from the

administrative public building in Binagadi.

Fariz originally from Kerbedje town lives with his family in two well decorated

rooms. He arrived in Baku in 1994, his brother-in-law was living already in this Binagadi

building and he arranged for Fariz’s family to settle here. Fariz is a highly educated engineer

and in Kerbedje was chief construction engineer. During his first year in Baku he became a

foreman on a construction site. The following two years he did not work because of an eye

sickness. In 1997, he became a street peddler. Lacking any capital he was given some

commodities for sale by a friend who was a wholesaler. He did not need a guarantor for the

loan received. He started selling cigarettes and later food stuffs. He chose as tochka a road

just outside Baku. His objective was just to earn some money for the subsistence of his

family. He stayed three years on the same tochka until 2001 when the municipality kicked

him away. He failed to save any money. Then he came near the building he inhabits where he

established a food stall and now sells many different kinds of food and many dry goods.

There are over 80 families living in this building, that is a good, stable market for him. He has

a small capital now, “maya” in Azeri Turkish, not enough however to cover all his

transactions. He has a privileged relationship with a given wholesaler to whom he pays 2/3 of

the purchase in cash and 1/3 on credit. He does not have enough cash for a global purchase.

He is not charged interest for the loan. Anytime he visits the wholesaler to get commodities

he brings back money. That way the relationship of trust is maintained and invigorated. No

official documents are used in these transactions although on a piece of paper are listed all the

commodities received by the small trader together with their cost. There are no signatures on

this paper. Occasionally his preferred wholesaler lacks certain goods Fariz needs. In this

case, Fariz has to go to some other wholesalers in town and in this case two possibilities

present themselves. For some small, specific items he pays cash and gets an invoice. If there

is a long list of items Fariz writes them down on paper, the wholesaler adds the cost of each

and the peddler pays cash, no invoice is used in this case. The transaction is simple, it

excludes the element of trust.

21

Informants repeated that street peddling is a better, more stable and more rewarding

activity than doing construction work as an unskilled laborer. When going to the labor market

on a street corner one is never certain to get a temporary job. The small street peddler can

reasonably rely on a daily income of 20 000 to 30 000 manats, enough for his family’s

subsistence.

It seems that the small trader pursues two aims. The first is to generate enough income

to cover his family’s needs. In this he seems successful. The second aim concerns the

accumulation of commercial capital both in its initial phase and later, after take off. Our data

indicate that this initial accumulation is an extremely difficult undertaking. There are mainly

three ways to accumulate initial capital. First, some well to do relatives or close friends can

lend you money for this purpose without interest, like Imam Ali was doing in the past. This

does not happen often because the relatives of poor IDPs are themselves poor IDPs. Second,

some construction masters with “golden hands” may earn up to 60 000 manats daily, they can

save and give their saving to a close relative for business purposes. Third, some IDPs

managed to take with them many of their goods and gold jewelry from their native villages,

they sold them at the time and immediately started business. They became very successful.

Today it seems practically impossible for a poor street peddler who has taken an outfit

from a small wholesaler to save money and create capital. He has to receive some outside

help. A street seller of fruit and vegetables would need 1 million manats as capital (“maya”),

for a clothing business much more. That is exactly the context in which micro credit becomes

important.

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5. MICRO-CREDIT

The position of micro-credit management is well described in several reports issued by

SFDI, FINCA, Normicro, etc. Management is concerned with the establishment and

promotion of a “credit culture” characterized by sustainable services, resolute legal struggle

against defaulters and standing in full contrast with the humanitarian ethos and practice.

Micro-finance is business. At the same time there is hardly any information available on the

recipient’s position and point of view. That is recognized by Jeff Flowers, FINCA director for

Azerbaijan, when he writes “better impact data is clearly needed…” I recognized the great

importance of micro-credit only towards the end of my field research and thus failed to carry

a proper investigation. Here are only some brief comments.

My informants are aware about micro-credit possibilities. They say that micro-credit

will work only if the micro-finance institution comes to their building and explains what it is

all about. MFI agents should talk repeatedly not only to the elder and leaders but also to the

young adults.

Informants add that they are too busy with their daily survival problems and have no

possibility to search for and visit the offices of MFIs. Even a young entrepreneur commented:

“Yes, I know somebody here who can write a business plan but where shall we take it?”.

Other informants express vaguely their intention to contact a MFI but never do it. These

attitudes are very much in harmony with the fundamental passivity of IDPs, they have created

a niche for themselves and it is very difficult for them to come out and initiate a new

undertaking. Some individuals however do act as leaders: “Rasim is the leader of our group,

he trades in shoes, he did talk to the Norwegians first and then organized our group” and “The

IDP school director here who is also commandant for our building, he went to see the

Norwegians and he brought them here”.

The IDPs realize that micro-credit is about trading, it is for traders only. Also: “They

(all MFIs lumped together) will give you a loan only if you have a collateral. I have nothing

(valuable), so why should I bother!” and still further: “I got a loan from the Norwegians, they

say they don’t need a collateral but in the form I had to write down my TV set, my fridge and

other important things, that way only they gave me a loan…”.

Following the fact that many traders and would be entrepreneurs lack collateral, the

MFI requests potential recipients to organize themselves formally in a group with collective

responsibility. In case a recipient is defaulting, the others will have to pay for him. Further, a

guarantor for each recipient may be requested by the donor. The larger the group means a

23

higher level of sustainability, from the donor’s point of view. The donor may request periodic

meetings for group members which may or may not take place.

It is my opinion that the patterns of initial creation, the structuring and the functioning

of these groups are very important for the success or failure of the micro-credit projects. It is

well known that Middle Eastern societies (and Azerbaijan is part of them) suffer from a low

level of organization. Such societies normally experience great difficulties in establishing and

maintaining new cooperative structures at the grassroots level, this without the intervention of

a command agency. How are the MFI negotiating these cultural obstacles? What kind of

organizational strategies are most likely to succeed?

Let’s now listen to the story of the pharmacist we mentioned earlier: “Twice we have

received loans from the Norwegians, the first time for USD 300, the second for USD 500.

Next month we could make a third deal… The Norwegians came here to our building and

said: “We want to deal with IDPs registered in this building!” and “You should organize your

group yourself”’. Then we started looking at each other trying to exclude the unknown

persons. Eight people were selected and the Norwegians asked us to appoint a leader. We

thought about a respected elder or a dynamic, intelligent person. The Norwegians are very

good because they don’t take bribes and the Azeri working for them are afraid to take

bribes… Every participant had to select a guarantor with a regular job and who could pay in

case of need. The guarantor should not be a relative. The principle explained to us was that

one person should be responsible for all and all should be responsible for one. We had to sign

written contracts. We repaid the money on a monthly basis. If late we were not fined but they

put a mark in the computer. At the end they examine the repayments and those who did not

pay on time are often expelled. That is how for the first loan we were eight but for the second

only three! When repayment is regular the following loan may be increased. The Norwegians

accept individual loans but ask for collateral. Even for the group loans they examine the

household furniture. On each individual contract for group loans household valuables are

described and evaluated and husband and wife both have to sign. The Norwegians wanted our

group of eight to meet regularly but we did not meet. Small groups may be are holding

meetings… Problems in the group begin when somebody can not repay. Our leader was very

good, everybody liked him. Initially the Norwegians asked for a business plan from each of us

but we didn’t do it, we just mentioned what we wanted the money for: four wrote down for

trading, one was a butcher, then a taxi driver to repair his car, also a master who wanted to

buy construction material and one seamstress”.

24

In order to get a full record and a full understanding of the activities of such a group,

the observer should conduct participant observation over a long period of time! Such was

certainly not my case!

The second case demonstrates that in this environment of absolute poverty real

entrepreneurs do emerge! They follow the example of even more successful entrepreneurs!

Hasan lost a leg during the war. Now he has a prothesis. On leaving the military

hospital he received his invalid pension for five months in a lump sum, his uncle added some

money and that became his capital. In Baku he became a street peddler selling sweets on an

illegal tochka. Later he moved to a metro station tochka for which he paid rent until the

authorities told him to go away. Now he is not working, he is busy with making plans! He is

not interested in trading any longer, he wants to start production! He has presently a USD 400

Norwegian micro-loan. He has two ideas. The first is about establishing a sewing shop in

Baku, he could get the material on credit and pay later. Now he is searching for space. For

credit he will approach the French and the Bank of Baku. He will prepare both a business plan

and a market plan and ask for USD 10 000. The second idea he is working on concerns the

production of furniture made of wood, rather small items. He is regularly touring furniture

shops assessing marketing possibilities. He will establish a plant away from the city center,

first get a loan from the low interest banks and then bring wood cutting machines from

Turkey…

In his plans, Hasan has been influenced by two friends of his, both of them IDP

traders, he is looking up to them. The first was very poor, he started selling potatoes and

saved money by drastically reducing expenses and turning his manats into dollars at the end

of each day… later he continued trading in Turkey from where he brought commodities, now

he has an apartment and a car. The second friend managed to establish a furniture factory on

some land he owned and now he also has an apartment and a car. Hasan believes that

presently business climate is very good in Azerbaijan, the government supports production!

During my conversations with small traders and small loan recipients, I remained with

the impression that in this environment of absolute poverty, micro-credit represents an

element of hope, it does allow individuals to establish a business of their own and to plan for

expansion while at the same time family needs are being covered. Most important, hope

brings a psychological change with the possibility for new activities!

25

6. INCOME AND DEBT

We already mentioned the difficulties in assessing IDPs' incomes produced by gainful

activity. The informants systematically underrated their earnings. If unskilled laborers make

on the average 300 000 manats a month, we can assume that street peddlers earn somewhat

more and some others in various occupations considerably more.

Our data indicate that pensions are extremely important in the IDP family budgets. In

our survey of 40 families, 39 individuals received pensions from the state! Pensions come in

different kinds and sizes: for old age, for invalids, war pensions, for chronically sick people,

etc. In our sample, the amount pensioners receive vary from 100 000 manats to 180 000 and

even more as is the case with war invalids. Informants have no inhibition in stating the exact

amount of their pensions.

Further, all IDPs receive a monthly allowance of 25 000 manats from the state called

“bread money”. Power, gas and water used by IDPs are paid for by the state. For the major

Muslim festive days of Nowruz Bayram and Kurban Bayram, the state authorities provide the

IDPs with special food gifts. Various INGOs and local NGOs continue to deliver some food

relief but their generosity is diminishing. Basically the pensions together with the bread

money secure the stability of IDP family budget and this is mainly in reference to the basic

food requirements. Although there are no starving IDPs, only very few IDPs can afford meat

more often than once a week.

We asked the interviewed families about their three meals the previous day. Here are

some typical meals: in the morning strongly sweetened tea with bread and occasionally a

small piece of cheese, for lunch potatoes, fried or boiled potatoes with bread and for dinner

maybe eggs and bread. IDP diet is monotonous: it is a typical poor people's diet. People

regularly complained that their food has become tasteless: “We have food but after dinner we

feel that we didn’t have enough, we are not satisfied, we can’t cook meat because the children

in the corridor will smell it and they will come and look at it and then look at us…”

I thought initially that the purchase of clothing items would overburden the family

budget. When questioned on the subject our informants reacted with indifference. It appeared

that clothing was not a problem for them. There are some good stores for second hand

clothing and in bazaar some very cheap new clothes are available.

Despite the prevailing poverty some families over time manage to acquire some

expensive items, a large carpet or a new appliance like a television set. These are usually paid

for in installments with a low interest rate.

26

Our informants recognize two kinds of debt (“borch”). The first is related to the

various small shops in the vicinity of the public buildings. IDPs rarely pay cash for their daily

grocery purchases. As I mentioned previously they contract a running debt with one of the

grocery shops for “bakalya” or groceries and pay back at the end of the month when pensions

and bread money arrive. Practically all IDPs have “bakalya” debts of variable amounts which

occasionally reach up to 300 000 manats. In our records, only two families expressed some

worries about their ability to repay their debt on time. The “bakalya” debts together with the

operational debts of the traders can be considered as structural because of their regularity,

continuity over time and systematic nature.

The second kind of debts lacks this structural characteristic. These debts are contracted

in a context of emergency and concern primarily some urgent medical crisis. Such crisis can

have a catastrophic effect on the stability of family budgets based on the relationship:

structural debt - regular government payments. Faced with the need to urgently borrow money

for a medical emergency the family inevitably turns towards its relatives and close friends for

help. These generally respond positively, they do help and like Imam Ali take no interest. The

family later makes a serious effort to pay back in irregular small installments. Debt practices

related to medical emergencies are best understood in the full context of the global health

conditions affecting IDPs.

27

7. HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

Practically all our informants complained about health conditions in their families.

Usually their testimony begins with a description of the initial shock: “We had to cross the

river which was full with deep water, I didn’t know how to swim, my sons barely saved me,

something happened in my brain at that time and ever since I’m sick in my head, my head

turns, now I worry all the time…”

Another informant: “ In our village I was very healthy, after we left the village for one

month I was very nervous and my teeth fell, they just came out… my head was turning and I

couldn’t stand up, I had to lie down all the time… my daughter became sick after the

Armenians bombarded our village, she was six at the time, the left side of her body became

paralyzed, she had to lie down for four months, at the time she couldn’t walk, her mother

taught her how to walk again, today she is limping, she is an invalid…”

After these initial statements usually follow descriptions of the various ailments

affecting family members in the head, liver, limbs, stomach, joints, eyes, blood, etc. And

finally there is a global condition we called “general sickness”, as an old woman complained:

“I worry all the time, I think about my son who was taken hostage by the Armenians and who

died soon after, probably they gave him an injection with poison. I worry all the time, every

minute we have difficulties here about everything, we have very little space in this one room,

now I have general sickness, my whole body hurts, I suffer from broken heart…”

Invariably informants consider their extremely poor living conditions as the principal

cause of their diseases: the lack of space, the cesspool in the basement, the rats and

mosquitoes, the refuse lying all around, the dirt everywhere, the bad food they get, etc. This is

the context in which medical treatment begins and which is the source for endless complaints.

IDPs apparently are entitled free medical services. Informants assert that according to

government regulations IDPs suffering from TB, diabetes and cancer should never pay for

treatment or medicines!

The real situation seems very different. Informants complain that they have to pay the

doctors who however never ask openly for payment. “If you don’t pay, they say they are busy

and tell you to come tomorrow… you get this response for a few days and then you learn how

to put 10 000 manats on the table and you get quick examination, the nurses also are waiting

and expect something…” While this practice seems very widespread, in our record are

several cases where patients were given proper medical examinations free. A similar situation

prevails with the prescription of drugs. Patients complained they have to pay for all drugs. In

28

fact, in a few cases, drugs were provided free. Some patients are very bitter about hospital

care: “For treatment at the polyclinic in order to have a good examination you have to give

money, from 10 000 to 20 000 manats on the table and nurses also expect something…

sometime the doctors behave like wolves, you fell oppressed and don’t want to go back

there… you say it is better to remain sick at home and die in your bed than go to the doctor…

even for the vaccination of the children you have to give money! But there are some very

good doctors who do a good job and ask for no money!”

Operations are always subject to prior negotiations and occasionally some bargaining.

Evaluations are made in USD. In our records the most expensive operation was evaluated at

USD 500 with the understanding that patients will have to provide all necessary medicines.

In some cases several sick persons are to be found simultaneously in a single family.

Saltana lives in the basement of an unfinished building with her elderly mother, her husband

and two children. The old woman has no appetite and suffers from high blood pressure, every

third day her drugs cost 7 000 manats. The young woman has heart problems and needs some

very expensive injections. The husband has been suffering from rheumatism for the last three

years and twice a year he needs injections that cost 80 000 manats each.

Halay is from Minchan village in Lachin where he was store manager and sheep

breeder. He has a wife and six daughters. The youngest one is epileptic. Two of the girls have

eye problems, they wear glasses and need special treatment. The oldest is a war invalid. A

year ago Halay spent three months in mental hospital, he worried too much and his head

became no good, his head was turning all the time. He was suffering from “yurek agrisi” pain

in the heart or broken heart. Soon after he got TB. There is no special clinic for adult IDPs,

they can go to any polyclinic in town provided they pay. Halay went to Polyclinic Samashko

downtown, he explained his case to a doctor who charged him 50 000 manats for an

examination, X-Ray and a written diagnosis. The doctor then sent Halay to a TB specialist in

another hospital, the specialist refused help. Then Halay by himself found another doctor

called Fuad in the same hospital and told him he was an IDP and asked him in the name of

Allah to help him for no money because he didn’t have any! Doctor Fuad took care of him

and told him he would need nine courses of special treatment at the cost of 400 000 manats

each. Halay has completed six courses but cannot go on because he has no money. There are

no precautions taken in his household against contagion. His mother is regularly giving him

her pension and his brothers help for his medicine. He has no money for the treatment of his

daughters who are in danger of becoming blind. Somebody told him to go to UNICEF with

his prescription but he couldn’t find their office… “When we run out of flour for bread I

29

cannot sleep and keep thinking (worrying) all night…when the situation becomes unbearable

you begin to hate everything and you hate most your life!”

Situations like this, and there are many of them, can have a disastrous affect on the

family budget. No matter how well is the budget balanced, a sickness of a family member or

several such cases create a situation of objective helplessness and psychological hopelessness.

Then starts the cycle of money borrowing from relatives, reduction of expenditures and

increased savings up to the moment when depression and resignation takes over and the

patient, essentially the elderly patient, decides it is better to get ready for death.

30

8. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION

The present life style of the IDPs in Baku public buildings carries little resemblance to

the routine and daily activities of peasant existence in the eastern mountains. One of the most

important changes in the social existence of the IDPs, and usually very difficult to observe, is

the restriction in their field of social interaction. In Baku, the IDPs are basically a ghetto

society, they are “segregated” in specific public buildings where they carry a largely isolated

existence. It seems that their attention is turned inwards, toward their own group, toward the

neighboring IDPs. They have their own institutions: the regional administration from the

occupied territories is in Baku to serve IDPs; they also have their own schools where the loss

of home and homeland is regularly commemorated. They don’t appear particularly interested

in what is happening outside, in the big city. Further, we have repeatedly mentioned the

social and economic autonomy of the family.

In this context, I have often observed a narrowing down of their field of social

interaction. It is true that there are several cases when married brothers and sisters residing

elsewhere often visit their siblings. Usually they just sit, drink tea, without participating in

any domestic activity. That is especially true when the married siblings are relatively young.

The older siblings and more distant relatives get together only on rare occasions such as

marriages and funerals. Visiting non-relatives in town is consciously avoided. Indeed, custom

requires that visitors bring gifts and hosts presents some luxury food. Since neither can afford

this, the visit is avoided. The field of most intense and meaningful interaction is on the floor

where the family resides. Women and children easily walk in and out of their neighbors

rooms. Here the instinct of sociality is easily expressed and it is here that news circulate with

great speed. That is also the sphere of continuous mutual help. One female teacher said she

wouldn’t be able to work on her job without neighboring women looking after her children.

According to an Azeri saying: “It is better to have a good neighbor close-by than a brother far

away”. Elder men spend the day visiting each other, in late afternoon they sit on benches in

front of the building reminiscing about the good life they had in their native villages.

Apparently, in all public buildings there is a person responsible for administration, a

kind of a community leader called “komandant”. Their functions and authority seem to vary

considerably from one building to another. They have no remuneration and it was not very

clear who had appointed them, when and how. Their status had to be approved by the SCR.

Their main responsibility is to establish and update the register of inhabitants and they are

consulted by the various authorities on IDP matters. In one unfinished building, the

31

komandant turned out to be a teacher who was also a street peddler with a tochka. Our

informants only vaguely knew about his existence. In another building, the elderly komandant

came from a family distinguished for its public service, he acted as intermediary between the

IDPs and the various authorities. He succeeded even in establishing some kind of community

council with unspecified functions. The eight members of the council became active mainly

on festive occasions when food gifts were made and supervised the equitable distribution of

food parcels.

Some renovated buildings have well functioning community organizations. The

remarkable achievement of the Norwegians should be mentioned again. The komandant of

one of these buildings mentioned: “The NRC was putting a new roof on a building nearby.

Our people were curious and went to see what was happening. They were told that their

community organization together with the Norwegians were doing some renovations. Then

our people invited NRC to come here and renovate our building. NRC said first we have to

establish a community organization. NRC sent an Azeri woman who trained us. That is how

we started with the renovation of our building. Then NRC sent several construction masters

and we provided the unskilled labor. We finished the job in six months and now we have a

community organization to look after the good maintenance of the building.”

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9. SCHOOL CHILDREN

All children in our sample go to school. I asked the komandants of all seven buildings

I visited about school attendance and was told that all children as a rule go to school. Even

those who fail, the lazy, the stupid, those with poor clothes and shoes, all attend school and

their parents understand the importance of education. As a rule, IDPs have their own schools,

staffed by IDP teachers with separate funds from the IDP administration in exile.

I visited Lachen No 9 school for IDP children in Narimanov District. This IDP school

is located on the ground floor of a regular city school. It has 250 children in three shifts and

30 teachers, all IDPs. The building is a converted hospital and classrooms are very small.

Instruction is an Azeri with Russian and English taught as foreign languages. The state

provides all IDP school children with free textbooks (grades 1 to 11). Teaching methods and

textbooks are the same in both, city and IDP schools. Children from both schools play happily

together in the schoolyard and officially nobody is thinking or talking about discrimination.

Our record however indicates that sometime children from the city school make fun of the

IDP children pointing to their poor clothing. Some IDP children had to stop going to school

because of this, temporally at least. In some other cases, IDP parents refused to send their

children to school because the children did not have proper shoes. Further, I systematically

asked our informants about the use of narcotics or alcohol by youngsters and their response

was sharply negative, this contrary to my expectations.

IDP schools are institutions where the IDP war victim ideology is actively kept alive.

Teachers regularly mention in class the main events of the war together with the heroic acts of

the martyrs. On the students daybooks is printed a calendar of the major Karabagh war events.

At each specific date, commemorative events are organized in the school with the

participation of parents, speeches are made, the children recite patriotic poems and heroic

songs are sung. Occasionally the children are brought to visit the Martyr’s Alley in Baku and

they go to theater where war dramas are staged. In this context, a child acquires an identity of

a war victim, an IDP closely identified with the native land. Thus, when an IDP child born in

Baku is asked where he is from, the answer is: “I’m from Lachin”!

33

CONCLUSION: IDP IDEOLOGY

Without exception all the IDPs I spoke to were literally obsessed by their desire to

return some day to their native lands! The adults and certainly the elders spend much time

reminiscing about the cool mountains of Karabagh with its forests and green pastures. With

much melancholy they describe their large stone houses, the cattle and sheep they owned and

the various (socialist) benefits they enjoyed: secure jobs, free education and free medical

services. They contrast their paradise-like traditional environment to the squalor and abjection

of their present existence in Baku. They have no hope about improving their living conditions

in Baku, they hope only about eventually going back to their homeland with no thought about

the present state of their homes and villages in Karabagh and occupied territories.

We mentioned that in Baku, IDPs represent basically a ghetto society characterized by

absolute poverty and structurally marginal to the resident majority. IDPs have a strong “we”

feeling, a specific IDP identity which appears to include two important elements. The first

represents the notion of “loss” illustrated by poverty, passivity, marginality and the second the

notion of “hope” related to the traditional homeland (past and future) and carrying the

promise of bliss. Openly, the IDPs reject the idea of remaining forever in Baku and

integrating in a definitive way. Hasan bay the komandant said: “There are here some who

have made it in Baku with their golden hands and they wouldn’t like to return to their

homeland but we look down at them, we despise them, we hate them, and anyhow, they are

very few of them…” In a different moment the same informant commented: “I have three

sons and a good place here on the ground floor with a garden, when our village will be

liberated I’ll return immediately to my old house but I’ll leave my eldest son here, it is good

to have a son in Baku…”

At the individual and family levels, our data show that the IDPs have somehow

adapted to extreme poverty. With the help of the government, their basic needs in shelter,

food and education seem covered. They don’t starve. Their present level of adaptation is

expressive of a state of relative balance which, however, may be broken in two directions.

The first direction is negative and is represented by the cycle of sickness, borrowing,

indebtedness, etc. The second direction is positive and is characterized by successful initial

accumulation, acquisition of micro-credits for some and intensified business activities while

keeping the IDP life style. In fact there are many positive directions which hopefully future

research will reveal.